ANDY WEBSTER moved south with a headful of dreams. Twenty-two Scotland caps to his name, 200 appearances under his belt, 24 years of age.

The Premiership wasn’t just the next step. It was the only step. Yet it’s only now, seven years later, that he feels comfortable enough in his own skin to do himself justice in that kind of company.

The defensive mainstay of a stricken Coventry side defying the impossible odds administration dealt them in League One, the 31-year-old will walk out to face Arsenal in front of 60,000 at the Emirates in the FA Cup on Friday night, thrilled at finally getting a chance he thought had passed him by.

But one he admits, if he knew then what he knows now, could and should have come a long time ago.

The centre-half’s move from Hearts to Wigan in August 2006 was shrouded in so much controversy he ended up joining Jean-Marc Bosman in having a rule named after him.

What should have been the perfect stepping stone for him, though, turned out to be a stumbling block – and four months later he was back up the road on loan at Rangers.

And despite having a 100 per cent record in the league they call the best in the world – played four, won four, in a team sitting eighth in the table – he admits the stats hide the truth of his discomfort at football’s highest altitude.

He said: “Everyone wants to play at the highest level, right? So if you get to the Premiership? One, it’s a great achievement to be signed by a club there in the first place and, two, it’s an even bigger opportunity.

“But at Wigan there was so much else going on in the background I just never settled. It’s different now, I’m older and wiser.

“I probably felt mature at that age but in hindsight I realise I wasn’t. The football was a good experience. The bit away from it wasn’t and it played on my mind all the time.

“We had one child at the time, my wife was pregnant again and was up and down the road for midwife appointments and the like.

“We bought a house and it was going to be ready, then it was next month and then the month after that. They sound like petty wee things but when you’re somewhere new they end up being bigger than they should be.

“I’d also missed pre-season with all the hassle around signing and Paul Jewell put a lot of stock in players who physically ticked all his boxes so I was playing catch up – and with that standard of player it was difficult.”

Webster eventually got his chance in October 2006 in a 4-0 win over Man City and played his part in a winning streak that saw Wigan at the zenith of their season.

“It was one thing I noticed, that even the guys you’d never heard of were excellent. It was a step up. You’re used to watching the Premiership on TV, seeing all the superstars. But then it was the same when I used to watch Hearts when I was at Arbroath.

“You’d see them lose four or five to Celtic or Rangers and think they weren’t up to much then you go there and train with them and realise ‘These guys are very good players’. Perception and reality can be so different.”

Webster is under no illusions about the realities of facing Arsenal away, though.

But Steven Pressley’s side have spent the entire season proving every assumption about the Midlands side wrong.

Docked 10 points for the second season in a row as administration rumbled on, they’re enduring a fan boycott of home games being played 35 miles away in Northampton and have only just seen a signing ban lifted.

But they’re joint top scorers in the division and are still within touching distance of the unlikeliest of play-off spots.

Webster, who jumped from the frying pan of a Hearts team in administration to the fire of the Sky Blues in the same state, said: “Teams hate playing against us. Our standards are high and we have some really talented kids who are full of running.

“This tie feels like a reward for us. We did the hard bit in the early rounds against MK Dons, Hartlepool and Barnsley.”

Webster watched Arsenal pick apart Aston Villa on Monday night – and had all his preconceptions of their quality confirmed.

He said: “I’m working on my A coaching licence. It makes you watch games differently so I know how massive a task it will be.

“The sign of top quality players is that they make you, as a defender, do things you don’t want to do. Half way through tracking them you find yourself thinking ‘Damn, I REALLY shouldn’t be here...”

Andy Webster in action for Scotland

Webster will marshall a defence with an average age of 21 against one of the most potent attacking forces in European football.

But that’s exactly why he moved his family lock, stock and barrel, because he feels at 31 he can be the kind of influence on them that Pressley was to him at Tynecastle.

He said: “People have asked me what it’s like playing for Steven rather than with him and the big difference is that he’s just further away when he’s shouting at me now!

“When I was a kid at Hearts the gaffer was the captain and he looked after me. I’m not the young boy I was, though, and the team around me here has made it easier as well. It has opened my eyes.

“I made a big commitment bringing the whole family down and away from a nice way of life in Glasgow but it has been great.”

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His 23rd cap came four years after his 22nd – but Andy Webster insists he’d never snub the chance to make another international comeback.

The stopper became a Scotland stalwart in his early 20s before injuries and career catastrophes saw him fall out of the picture.

But a comeback under Craig Levein has seen him take his tally up to 28 caps – and he dreams of adding more.

He said: “I played initially when Gordon Strachan came in and was even on the bench at the start of this season at Wembley. I didn’t have a club at the time and people wondered how I could be there but obviously the manager knows he can rely on me.

“He has been to training a few times here as he has a place nearby and I’ve spoken to him.

“In recent games he has gone down a different road with his team selection but I’d never turn my back and say, ‘That’s me.’ If needed, I’ll be there.”